A feature-length documentary about the origins of the shaka will premiere at the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival next month.
“Shaka: The Story of Aloha” presents multiple stories about how the gesture with a pinky and thumb came to be. The film took five years to make and includes interviews in Hawaiʻi and California.
Steve Sue, the film's producer, said he's excited and added that it can be difficult to get into film festivals.
"I think this festival gets over 3,000 entries on average every year, and they typically pick a couple hundred films. So to be in that strata, we're really excited and obviously it's our hometown. So we want to show our product to ʻohana and this is a super good way to do it," Sue said.
HIFF will be from Oct. 2-13 in Honolulu, Oct. 15-17 in West Oʻahu, and Oct. 19 to Nov. 10 on the neighbor islands.
